Scene from the Red Tent film: Things We Don't Talk AboutWomen's Voices from the Red Tent

Do YOU remember the Red Tent? I have dreamt of a lifetime where I was inside the ruby glow of the Red Tent, in my dream the energy felt like it was in Siberia, I remember it was a preparation time... Recently I was invited by my beautiful sisters at The School of Shamanic Midwifery to speak on a panel at The Red Tent Dreaming event here in Melbourne on Saturday, 6th October 2012. I am honoured to be a part of this potent and deeply nourishing event and to share knowing of the deep bindings we have carried as women when we made past life promises to be hidden and to be silent. We not only carry the vows we have made but beliefs taken on around what it means to be pure or chaste, what is taboo...

I welcome this emergence of the The Red Tent back into our world at this time of innovation and change. We are on the threshold of the new world where we will honour the old ways in a new expression. The focus of The Red Tent Dreaming event will be on the film: Things We Don't Talk About - Women's Voices from the Red Tent and it will be a day of immersion into the Divine Feminine through dance and ritual and the power of the Feminine Voice. By remembering our pasts and sharing oral histories we can gain clarity about the reality we wish to create and then speak it into existence. I look forward to sharing this day with you all.

The Red Tent has been, and in some places remains, an actual place. It may also be referred to by its Native American name - the Moonlodge.

In our modern western patriarchal culture it has almost disappeared in terms of its social acceptability; however it remains in our hearts and souls as the place we retreat to during our bleeding time.

In the old times before electricity and when we lived together as a community, the women all bled at the same time, the dark of the moon. They would retreat together to the Red Tent, and enjoy their bleeding time free of the chores and concerns of their lives. They usually spent 3 days away from their families, just with the other women. They would talk together, rest, dream, care for themselves and each other. It was a nurturing environment that they all loved and appreciated. Many of the women would have prophetic dreams during this time. The women would be blessed with a vision on their third day of bleeding and this would be shared with the whole community on their return. The community hugely valued and relied on these visions the women would return with and used them as instruction for direction and focus for the community.

"Things We Don’t Talk About: Woman’s Stories from the Red Tent is a ground breaking 72-minute documentary film by award winning filmmaker Isadora Gabrielle Leidenfrost, PhD. Spontaneous and organic, a Red Tent is a red textile space where women gather to rest, renew, and often share deep and powerful stories about their lives. The Red Tent movement is changing the way that women interact and support each other by providing a place that honors and celebrates women, and by enabling open conversations about the things that women don’t want to talk about in other venues. Things We Don’t Talk About weaves together healing narratives from inside the Red Tent to shine a spotlight on this vital, emergent women’s tradition. The film provides us an opportunity to remember, to listen, to know, and to find what it is we need to bring back to our communities to help awaken the voices of women."